I found the premise very interesting, especially because I didn’t know much about the topic. However, I enjoyed the modern day story component so much more than Ann Eliza’s. I felt the writing style and tone was very accurate, but I found her to be downright annoying. I assumed her boss at times.

50 Jumpstart the Work by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Read this one so fast, didn’t realize it was YA fix. I loved the story, although I wish Wilbur wasn’t gay… I wanted him and Elle to end up together.

51 This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

I liked it, I liked how it is set in Jersey and I knew a lot of the places he was writing about. I didn’t realize at first it was told from a few different characters’ perspectives, so that was a little confusing.

52 Heads or Tails by Leslie Gordon

A woman takes her friend’s baby while she recovers from postpartum depression. Chick lit for sure, I liked it except I felt the author was repetitive at times, and talked about stupid stuff way too much.

I am never disappointed by this author’s books. This story centers around a family who just moved to a small town in California. Jackie and her wife have one adopted child, and two foster children. The oldest foster child runs away with the neighbor’s horse and then forms a very unlikely relationship with her. I flew through this one.

35. Every Day by David Levithan

A wakes up everyday in someone else’s body. Boy, girl, fat, thin – doesn’t matter – but the borrowed body is always someone his (possibly hers, they never specify, but to me it seemed like a guy) age. He falls in love with a girl named Rhiannon, and tries to have a relationship with her in his ever changing physical state. I really liked this book too. Quick and interesting read.

36. Tell A Thousand Lies by Rasana Atreya

A girl in a small village in India is manipulated by a scumbag politician her entire life. He makes everyone believe that she is a goddess to help him win votes in elections. I’m surprised I made it through the entire book because at times I was just plain bored, or the writing was getting on my nerves. Just when I was about to abandon it there would be some twist and I’d get sucked back in… I didn’t really love it though and wouldn’t recommend it overall.

37. The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha

Oh. My. God. This book was AMAZING. I can’t even do it justice by trying to give you a plot synopsis, but I can tell you that you should make it a point to read this book. I finished it in about a day – I just couldn’t put it down. Fantastic.

38. Brailling for Wile by James Zerndt

This book was just weird. The beginning started out so well, and then the more time went on, it was just odd. I had trouble keeping track of some of the characters (because names were thrown out there with such little character development you couldn’t remember who they were supposed to be). The characters that you did know were just weird (uh, hello, Helyana). I was glad when the book was over…

39. Sold by Patricia McCormick

A 13 year old Nepali girl is sold into sex slavery by her gambling step father. She thinks she is going to work as a maid in the city, but instead finds herself in a brothel where it’s nearly impossible for her to escape. This was a quick read (I started it around 1:15 today, and here I am blogging about the books I’ve read the past two weeks at 3:07 pm). It’s a heavy topic but soooo beautifully written. Almost like poetry. Definitely recommend this one..

I was unimpressed by this book, and it had way too much sex in it for me (I just don’t enjoy reading sex scenes in books, and not because I’m a prude, trust me). The main character’s husband, who has schizophrenia, disappears for years. Finally he turns up, murdered, but the woman has trouble letting go. Meanwhile, she starts to fall in love with the officer who has been in charge of the case…

32. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

A writer gets a job for a newspaper creating obituaries for famous people who are not yet dead. Meanwhile, the people he is writing these obituaries for start dying shortly after he completes his work. With a few other twists thrown in – the main character is responsible for an Emperor penguin that he rescued from the zoo, and a six year old daughter of an acquaintance,

I had a little bit of trouble with the writing style of this book, but it could’ve been the translation. It wasn’t as funny as I had hoped and I was a little confused at parts, but it wasn’t completely unenjoyable.

33. All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon

I had trouble getting into this book initially because it is very wordy, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I really enjoyed the story. It follows several different characters all impacted by the Chernobyl disaster. For some reason I have a strange interest in this topic, partly because I just can’t wrap my head around how the Soviet Union dealt with the aftermath (hiding it from their people, hiding it from the world, cover up cover up cover up). I felt the ending was a little abrupt and it didn’t finish the story line for all of the characters, so I was a little miffed at that, but overall I really liked it. The essay at the end is also definitely worth reading.